GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (3D)

A couple of years ago, it sounded crazy. The distance between Iron Man and the clearly Star Wars inspired Guardians Of The Galaxy seemed to be infinite, but here we are. As a comic book movie fan rather than a comic book fan, it’s harder for me to accept that a man who manufactures a robotic suit and a group of galactic adventurers could exist in the same cinematic universe but in the Marvel Universe, anything is possible.

The Avengers are made up of a green monster (Hulk) and a Norse God (Thor) but somehow that seemed to be more plausible. It is at that moment that you have to realise that logic is out of the window and this is a fun place to visit. Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) was abducted from earth as a child on the night of his mother’s death and has since grown up into a mercenary, a Han Solo type to be precise.

The group assemble and must save the Galaxy from Thanos and his quest for the infinity stones and so on, pretty normal stuff for a movie like this but the more interesting aspect is that even though this film feels so different, the maguffin is one of the set of stones which is being sought and fought over across the entire series of Marvel films, presumably concluding with the next 2-part Avengers movie, Avengers: Infinity War (2018/19). But in the mean time, it all comes to a sort of “head”, quite literally, in Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015).

So this film is all about 80’s nostalgia. From the retro soundtrack playing trough Quill’s orange, remember them, headphones to the whole Star Wars rip-off feel. But in this case, the Star Wars issue is a plus and not a negative. Unlike all those actual rip-off’s in the 1980’s, Guardians is paying homage to the lot, taking those of us old enough, back in time whilst introducing a new generation to it all, without us dusting off the DVD’s and forcing down their throats…!

Glib, sharp and fun, this is just pure family entertainment. Bright and colourful, fast and furious, this was a gamble which has most defiantly paid off and they have managed to blow the Marvel Universe wide open, with the strong connection to the rest of franchise, every Marvel movie can go anywhere or do anything with the knowledge that The Guardians Of The Galaxy could be just around the next corner, or star system…

But have to say that I love the post credit Howard The Duck reference. A brilliant nod to Marvel’sFIRST feature film, even though is was a George Lucas flop… Another Star Wars connection…?